Here is my fear. I fear that a lot of cruisers are too safety-oriented. They are like the parents who are scared of their children being kidnapped by strangers. An almost unheard of occurrence but one that has a huge emotional appeal. I do want to lower my risk, but don't want to pay an exponential price for safety.

We who go out to sea need a chance that our boats will take us safely there and back again - that is why we are safety conscious. If you jump out of a building, you will live 99% of the time, it is the 1% that will kill you. They say that religion starts 1000 miles offshore, do you know why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jm21

Yes, that's part of the plan...if my wife doesn't like living on a boat after a year or two we can sell and at least break even...

After 2 years? Wow! Interesting statement. If your wife doesn’t like living on a boat I am sure you will know after 2 days offshore, not 2years. ..
Ask me how I know...

JM21

It sounds as your offshore experience is limited to say the least. When you are out there you are at the mercy of nature and when the winds start howling and the water mountains start breaking you its not a time to regret you did not prepare well enough. Better to err on the safety side specially when you are restricted by what you don’t know, if you do, you will enjoy even the storms. But anyway, that is only my 77 cents. I wish the best of luck with your search and fair winds to Oz.

Hey Todd,
Was wondering if you got stuck between a couple frames, haven't seen you aboard for awhile.

__________________Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves!
Unprepared boaters, end up as floatsum!.......

As I've been looking for my first boat for the past couple months on Craigslist, and the past couple weeks now that I'm located near water again for the first time in a decade and can actually go aboard boats for sale, two distinct "types" of boats are catching my eye:

1. 25 to 33 foot 1990's models in the $25-$35k range that are in pretty good shape and would be comfortable as marina liveaboards and seem quite capable of coastal cruising (finding a lot of Catalinas, Hunters, Newports, Odays).

2. $1500 to $3500 "broken dream specials" that have definitely seen better days and that I would be embarrassed to bring a visitor home to, and definitely wouldn't take out in the ocean, BUT...they still float, have sails, and a space to curl up and sleep in. Functional for living on and learning to sail here on the river until it sinks.

Quite honestly...I'm leaning towards the one I can eventually use for firewood, because I assume that in learning to sail I'm going to beat the heck out of it anyway, and never bother fixing it up in the first place. At least that way, I'm out sailing, and I'm not going to care so much if something breaks.

2. $1500 to $3500 "broken dream specials" that have definitely seen better days and that I would be embarrassed to bring a visitor home to, and definitely wouldn't take out in the ocean, BUT...they still float, have sails, and a space to curl up and sleep in. Functional for living on and learning to sail here on the river until it sinks.

Quite honestly...I'm leaning towards the one I can eventually use for firewood, because I assume that in learning to sail I'm going to beat the heck out of it anyway, and never bother fixing it up in the first place. At least that way, I'm out sailing, and I'm not going to care so much if something breaks.

Well, you could learn to sail on a boat where something is likely to break at the first good wind leaving you in a potentially life threatening situation, yours and others, though you're more likely to let it rot until it's a hazard to the environment and navigation. Then it's a question of whether local authorities or your conscience will let you leave your mess lying around to cause a problem for other people. If either of those won't then you have an expensive clean up ahead of you.

And yes, I can imagine that Murphy's Law applies just as much on a boat as it does on motorcycles, which I've ridden full time, year round for 3.5 years. It's amazing what can go wrong.

One thing I didn't see mentioned while scanning through the rest of this thread was getting a marinesurvey. Even on a $2 boat, it seems to be it would still be advisable to have it surveyed, just so you have an idea of what is likely to fail sooner rather than later, particularly in regards to safety-critical stuff.

If a $2 boat becomes a $5,000 boat with some required safety rehabs, isn't that still a bargain?

It's the $2 boat that becomes a $50,000 boat and sits on the hard for 8 years that seems to be the nightmare. That just doesn't sound fun to me.

And yes, I can imagine that Murphy's Law applies just as much on a boat as it does on motorcycles, which I've ridden full time, year round for 3.5 years. It's amazing what can go wrong.

One thing I didn't see mentioned while scanning through the rest of this thread was getting a marinesurvey. Even on a $2 boat, it seems to be it would still be advisable to have it surveyed, just so you have an idea of what is likely to fail sooner rather than later, particularly in regards to safety-critical stuff.

If a $2 boat becomes a $5,000 boat with some required safety rehabs, isn't that still a bargain?

It's the $2 boat that becomes a $50,000 boat and sits on the hard for 8 years that seems to be the nightmare. That just doesn't sound fun to me.

-Jassen

Murphy's Law is present every where and every minute on boats. One has to learn to foresee events or problems before they come. Just yesterday Murphy got me, even though I could see him coming. It was a minor risk, and I lost.

As for surveys, they are out there for people who know little about boats. People who have been around boats a long time can usually do their own, but by now already have a boat they'll stick with the rest of their life.

If you know nothing about boats, it's best to get the best you can for your money. And if that means having to down size to a boat that's too small, then it's better to go w/o and save mo money.

__________________Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves!
Unprepared boaters, end up as floatsum!.......

If you know nothing about boats, it's best to get the best you can for your money. And if that means having to down size to a boat that's too small, then it's better to go w/o and save mo money.

Yes, that is actually starting to become an attractive option. I actually found a sailing club yesterday operates fleets both here in Portland and up in the Puget Sound, and monthly membership is cheaper than slip fees. I'm thinking it might be wise to do that 6 to 12 months and save up more dough to buy something better. The sailing club offers unlimited day use of the boats, and I can't imagine having much competition for reservations on weekdays.

However...I kinda missing have a project of some sort to work on. Feels naked without one!

Buying something better is more likely to result in time spent sailing IMO. All the "stuff" that makes a boat sail worthy and livable is actually quite expensive to replace. Most of the those give away priced boats are coming from people who have figured out it isn't worth their while to fix them up. Of course "Your Mileage May Vary". As delmarrey has pointed out, buying a better small boat will be safer then buying a cheap big boat.